Semi 1:
01 🇩🇰 Denmark: Oscar Niels Hansen - Kun få ord
It sounds fine, but it’s not particularly creative and just sounds like paint-by-numbers English club music.
02 🇦🇲 Armenia: Mardagayl - To Moon
Sounds very Eurovision, production is a bit shot, vocals unstable, but okay at least it’s trying for something. Desperately misses a bridge to like ‘make the moment’.
03 🇦🇹 Austria: Der Rudi - Fleischbaum
I think it’s a decent attempt at German comedy songs and the 80s camp in a new jacket works well. Production sounds a bit metallic, something isn’t quite right with it.
04 🇷🇺 Russia: ИСЧО - Последняя песня о тебе
Strange for me to hear Russian with it’s drawly qualities on an oddly East-Asian sounding R&B track with its jazz obsessions. I don’t consider it a very compelling song, but there isn’t anything wrong in particular either. Just lacks a bit of charm and a melodic hook that really lands.
05 🇨🇦 Canada: Alma Beers - Shadow of the Night
This is unlistenable. I mean I understand that it’s supposed to be campy and good fun and it succeeds there, but the production is just completely unbalanced and the bass is annoyingly loud, the synths are a cacophony and I mean this is just really unpleasant to listen to.
06 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: jAI Meel - Yandırdın
Vocals a bit unstable, but I like most of the rest of this. Melodically it’s working for me, I like how the rock parts are held back a bit to keep this a pop song with a lot of energy, also makes the guitar solo parts shine a bit more. More interesting drum sections would have helped and a melody that doesn’t sound like it was taken from Tetris or whatever, but I mean it works still.
07 🇧🇪 Belgium: Zenne - Zonder Jou
Bit messy, but it does sound like a believable Dutch song. Melodies in the chorus hit. Too bad about the vocalizations, but yeah Suno 5.5 gonna Suno 5.5. Not great, certainly not bad.
08 🇱🇺 Luxembourg: Julien Rêveur - On Borrowed Grace
Sounds like American industry bullshit. Sentimentalism that is so paint-by-numbers and relies on some dude who sounds like an asshole screaming about how deep he is when it’s as deep as a fucking sheet of graphite. Really not my thing. The idea about AI music is that you don’t need to hear industry slop, but like actual music. So why make this sort of industry nonsense for people who still piss in their bed?
09 🇱🇹 Lithuania: Nieko Tokio - Titanikas
Lol this is not holding back on 80s camp. If only it had some better melodies. Also the song spends the whole 5 minutes stuck in the same gear. It does get boring after 3 minutes. Not a bad attempt though.
10 🇻🇦 Vatican: Catharticus - Nova Diva
Production feels a bit weak, guessing we’re looking at a Suno 4.5 here. Doesn’t work well with genres like this where you really want some extra oomph. Melodies are charming, but yeah it’s a bit Lion King if you get what I mean. Not a big fan of this, but I do appreciate what was made here.
11 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Sylvie Kreusch - Walk Walk
This was not made by someone who understands Dutch sensibilities because this is about as realistic for The Netherlands as my mom having a dick. Very trashy, melodically feels like this would fit in Sweden, the UK or the USA, but not the Netherlands. I just can’t help being disappointed. Production very haphazard, vocals are just some bitch screaming. Not a fan.
12 🇫🇷 France: Aline Tessier - Les Conquérants
But there is no point to the lyrics. What are the stakes that infuse the song with emotion? This is just emotion as music but then she’s just singing about a bunch of knobs on a boat, like I mean I understand it’s about Columbus or some early vessel of discovery, but like there’s literally just nothing going on in there that explains the mood of the song. Beyond that it’s melodically a bit meh, but it does sell its content well. It’s not bad, just like I mean if you go epic music, write epic lyrics.
13 🇭🇺 Hungary: Marta H - Életfény
Not particularly compelling in any department. Production is a bit too timid and mid, vocals are nice but like why is the chorus so long and undulating and I mean it just misses a spark or idea where I’m like ah so this is what they were going for. This goes for nothing but ‘I make music so I make music’. But then it does so with a degree of competence.
14 🇲🇨 Monaco: Vanessa Rojo - No Solo
The lyrics are dumb as shit, but finally melodies that hit and a backing track that actually does the thing it is supposed to do. Properly fun song, I liked this quite a bit.
15 🇧🇾 Belarus: Laudenko - Shadows of Love
Whiney, but the pulling melody of the chorus sounds good and although I’m definitely not a fan of this genre it’s a decent attempt at it.
16 🇲🇩 Moldova: Frații din Luncă - Hai La Masă
Production is really nothing to write home about, but melodically it’s a catchy party song that doesn’t really stumble anywhere so I do think that’s well done. Just wish it had a bit more going on beyond just being a folksy clown ass song.
17 🇲🇦 Morocco: Layla Chraibi - Freedom
Well this sounds very well done. Nice melodies, production supports it properly, might have been better with a gear shift. Downside is that the backing track sounds hissy, it’s probably a Suno 4.5 generation. Not a huge problem.
18 🇩🇪 Germany: Danke, Anke! - Lalalove
I can’t deal with how horribly trite these lyrics are and then the music is also trite and I mean at that point the carnival ass music I mean like why was this even made? It’s just pointless drivel to me, let’s hope someone else is into it.
Semi 2:
01 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan: Janym Atlyn - Horsepower
It’s hardly brilliant as the parts of this song do not really connect well to each other, but the general sound is compelling and uncomplicated. Not really a paragon of lyricism sitting behind this track, but yeah silly ass techno doesn’t really have a great track record there and one could argue it’s a valid choice to make the lyrics as dumb as possible.
02 🇧🇬 Bulgaria: Моряци - На Пода Пак
I don’t know why someone decided we needed lesbian rock, but we’ve got lesbian rock. I really like this one, the guitar work feels a bit psychedelic which works well with the horny vocals. I like how punchy it sounds, the Bulgarian language really has a particular upfrontness that works for music. Melodies are also just great, like the back and forth between the vocals and the guitar in the chorus, it just sounds like something an AI wouldn’t come up with.
03 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein: Schafhofbärtige - Mäh-Mäh Folk
Pffffft yeah ok it’s a stupid gimmick and I definitely wish it didn’t sound so much like a shitty beer song for idiots who think they want to party but basically only want to drink beer and misbehave. But upsides there are because melodically it’s sound and at the end of it all doing yodels and sheep themes I mean it’s a coherent comedic package, like I mean I do need to give credit for actually cooking up a plan and then executing said plan correctly.
04 🇬🇪 Georgia: Mariam Kapanadze - A-A-A (Rise Again)
It’s very theatric which I do like, but it’s unreasonably cheesy when it just keeps adding and adding and adding. It gets to the point where it really is a bit too much. Production also feels very Suno 4.5, it’s just not quite crisp. Given that I think this genre is something Suno 5.5 can do well it was maybe a better idea to remake it with Suno 5.5, but I won’t remove points because of such considerations beyond lacking a degree of crispness.
05 🇵🇱 Poland: Doggo - Najmądrzejszy pies na świecie
Cool desert vibes and then these lyrics, I mean the punchline in the bridge is hilarious. I think this is really rather good stuff. Melodies are also strong.
06 🇮🇸 Iceland: SKOFFÍN - Fjallafugl
Ah yes this rabbit hole I’ve fallen into in Suno 4.5 as well, it seems oddly happy doing this sort of ethnic chorus stuff when the backing track ends up sounding earthy. It’s not a bad sound, but it does risk sounding a bit unserious. Song sounds nice enough, but I feel it lacks cohesion. Like the song ends before I felt like there was a moment, it’s very stuck in a single gear. Not great, even though it is pleasant.
07 🇺🇦 Ukraine: VAL.UA - Погляд
It’s not bad but I am not enthusiastic either. I mean it’s four minutes of largely the same slow dirge with a very undercooked techno beat and some ethnic flutes. It really lacks a creative spark badly. Happens to be that the vocal melodies have a nice nostalgic feel to them, but beyond that it’s a black hole.
08 🇨🇭 Switzerland: Baguette&Сroissant - Nuits de Paris
Baguette&Croissant with Nights of Paris, like I mean the great minds of the earth have spent ages thinking up the grand theories of existence and meanwhile in a niche of the internet we have people doing this. But okay this one lack of creative spark noted I do think the actual song is quite compelling. Melodies just work, I like the backing track, it’s maybe again not very creative, but it builds nicely and doesn’t place a foot wrong. Just a little bit more polish would have helped here, but ok it’s not there. I can accept if the AI generates this and people are like yeah this is the one.
09 🇫🇮 Finland: Mooseksen Trumpetti - Sininen Kuu
Ugh, I can’t deal with this bullshit genre. I mean yeah fine the melodies are nice, it all works, if you accept a lobotomy first. It’s just random cheesy noisy thrown together under the argument of ’but it’s fun’. No, it sounds like a bunch of fucking idiots just throwing sounds at a machine with rhyme nor reason. KEY CHANGE. No, just go home. Absolutely unlistenable.
10 🇱🇧 Lebanon: AISLE IX - Shopping Cart Symphony
If this didn’t have these unserious lyrics there was actually a song in here, because the backing track is actually kind of great. Yeah ok the song is too long perhaps, but 3 minutes of this Russian EDM is not bad at all. Bit of a missed opportunity here.
11 🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina: Planinа - Drina Na Dlanu
It’s very middle of the road Eurovision-inspired nonsense, but I mean there’s just nothing here that is ever wrong. I like the Spanish guitar parts, the melodies work, the lyrics aren’t to win any prizes but I know it’s a man getting conquered by some romantic interest. It sounds good. Think it’s solid stuff.
12 🇦🇱 Albania: Valbona Ilir - Parajsa
Very solid pop track. Can’t understand the lyrics so maybe those are utter drivel, but musically it’s just hitting home. Melodies are strong, it’s a total bop. Really liked this one.
13 🇹🇷 Turkey: Iyi geceler project - Gökyüzüne
Nice one really, I mean it’s about life spreading through the universe, or at least dreaming about that. It doesn’t really spend time on the implications of that beyond a nod, but that’s okay. The music supports this feeling of wonder with slightly psychedelic or trance-like EDM with a slight rock vibe to it which is all completely fine. Very coherent package this. Really well done.
14 🇵🇹 Portugal: Euclypsis - Espero
Fado doing fado. Lyrics hinting at a world forever receding from the singer. First into the hills, then into the entrapments of civilization and then harrowingly down to the depths of the ocean. I think the production drops it a bit at the bridge where it should just feel a bit more maximalist. I really adore the chords, it’s hitting a couple crunchy ones that sound Arabic, very on brand for fado. Not bad at all. Nice outro too.
15 🇦🇩 Andorra: Punt de Fusió - Guerra i Pau
Yeah ok lyrics are a bit on the nose, but nothing we haven’t seen before. I’m not super fond of the melodies and chords here. I mean it is really ‘epic rock 101’. It works, but like I can see it coming from miles away. So yeah lacks creativity this, but it sounds fine, it’s not a disaster.
16 🇨🇾 Cyprus: Dimitris Grammatikos - Aioniótita
Production is a bit shot (Suno 4.5 strikes again) and it’s very Pearl Jam ft. Moby sounding, but that’s how AI sometimes works. Beyond that I think it’s very beautiful stuff. The lyrics don’t quite gel with the music everywhere maybe. But yeah I’m just looking for points to critique at that point. It’s very nice.
17 🇮🇹 Italy: Augusto Rosso - Fuoco lento
Why does it start with a fucking douchebag moaning and then doing basic bitch dancehall bullshit? Ugh. Song never goes anywhere else. Nothing to see for me here. This shit just annoys me.
18 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Countess Coloratura - Front Row Fantasy
I’m not a fan, like I mean there’s a song in there, it’s epic, it’s theatrical, but it’s also not something I like to listen to and the vocals are just 4 minutes of some woman screaming. Lyrics are a bit naff too, but ok. This one is for the fans.
19 🇸🇲 San Marino: Massimo Rivaldi - Cyborg Venezia 2099
More idiotic epicness, see above but now it’s a dude screaming for 4 minutes. I don’t know why these things exist. It’s melodically maybe better, but yeah I mean like what are we doing people? Please.
